DL flight diverts to Ascension

An interesting article about a DL 777 JNB/ATL flight diverting to Ascension Island
Unplanned island break after engine failure | News24


One line in the article caught my attention
"Beeld reports that the Delta Airlines Boeing 777's most important engine failed, forcing the flight to make an emergency landing on Ascension Island, 1 600 km west of Angola, near St Helena, on Thursday morning."

Question - Assuming there is a “most important engine” on a two engine a/c, wouldn’t the remaining working engine be the most important engine? :o


First hand accounts of the incident as reported by FlyerTalk members
FlyerTalk Members Report on Experience of Emergency Airplane Diversion to Ascension Island

Before the engine went out, it was a tie for "most important" ;)

Interesting story though. As someone who keeps the flightmemory log, That would definitely be a cool city to have on the map if I were on that flight :P

We have been very quiet about this Flight because #201 is such a money maker.

Ascension island. What a real treat if you have time to go and check out where NAPOLEAN was held for years in exile after the victors took him far away from his armies. (I think that is where he was held.) Well, ok, not quite but real close. He was imprisoned at St. Helena island which is in the general vicinity.

I read the article about it and I have to say that I would have considered it an adventure. I'd have taken lots of pictures because I know I'd never get another chance to go there. Scary and cool at the same time.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MRSDS1DONNA

I read the article about it and I have to say that I would have considered it an adventure. I'd have taken lots of pictures because I know I'd never get another chance to go there. Scary and cool at the same time.

---

Couldn't have said it better myself!

Certainly would have been an adventure. ASI is one of the places I'd really like to get to at some point!

Kind of funny to read the stories and see the pics. I've had a few situations where I had to put up and feed a few hundred pax. Also kind of funny that the rooms in the barracks look exactly like the ones I've stayed in on a different British air base

Like the BIOT? British Indian Ocean Territories of the CHAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.....DIEGO GARCIA. That's a place most can never go to unless they have official business. Also, Iwo Jima. One place you can't fly into is MAUG. Up the Marianas chain but you can get there by boat. It's cool to have to divert into a place like that where nobody goes to. That's why I enjoy military charters and field trips. It's a throw of the dice, you just don't know where you end up. They tell you ahead of time when they call you to where you will be going to, so at least its somewhat of a heads up if its a planned field trip.

Can I visit Chagos as a tourist/volunteer/photographer/journalist etc?

Unfortunately, these islands are very remote making visiting them impractical. There are no commercial tours to the Chagos archipelago. Rules regarding private visits are very strict and it is only possible to visit one or two sites by private yacht – and then only with permission of the BIOT government. Most non-government visitors to Chagos are highly skilled scientists who land a coveted position on one of the occasional research expeditions to the area. Therefore unfortunately there is almost no possibility of visiting or volunteering on these islands.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by 29palms

Like the BIOT? British Indian Ocean Territories of the CHAGOS ARCHIPELAGO.....DIEGO GARCIA. That's a place most can never go to unless they have official business. Also, Iwo Jima. One place you can't fly into is MAUG. Up the Marianas chain but you can get there by boat. It's cool to have to divert into a place like that where nobody goes to. That's why I enjoy military charters and field trips. It's a throw of the dice, you just don't know where you end up. They tell you ahead of time when they call you to where you will be going to, so at least its somewhat of a heads up if its a planned field trip.

---

Gotta love the nonsked world!

I remember taking our ship around the Chagos Archipelago in the I.O. on some kind of patrol we did with the Brits. We went to one particular island in the chain. I cant remember the name, but the Brits had layed out some water and provisions for hard up sailors on yachts travelling through the I.O and needed a place to recupe from the long voyages. We encountered a sailor from somewhere, I think England itself, and ended up handing him more provisions from off of our ship. This island we kind of sat off it for most of the day, the water looked so calm like GLASS. Hotter than hell as usual. Yea, here it is, it was the SALOMON ISLANDS. It was an atoll cluster of islands. Just like the rest or most of the islands in the Archipelago. I even found a link to it. I remember the name because I have heard of the Solomon islands of the Guadacanal, island groups of south of New Guinea and I found it peculiar that there would be something called the same over in the Chagos Archipelago. Tell you this, it won't be ever in my life that I'll probably ever see this island ever again. (Diego is a possibility via military charters.) Name of that ship I voyaged to the Solomon islands was called the MV LCPL Hauge. (Ships named after Marine Corps Medal of Honor winners of various wars.) Here is his information and citation for that award. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_J._Hauge,_Jr. Here is a link on the Solomon islands on wikipedia. Salomon Islands - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia I was there somewhere around 1987 around Christmas time frame.

Nice! I've been over that way, but never on a ship. Would be pretty cool. The last time I rode a ship was from Wales to Ireland across the Irish Sea last year.

Been going on any field trips lately? I recently worked with some fine folks from an office down your way

I saw this youtube video of someone that took video of the Solomon Islands. I about freaked when I saw grafitti on the wall at 5:08 into the video, if you freeze it there, pause it, you will notice that on the wall, it reads "MV BAUGH BIG DADDY". The MV BAUGH is another one of our sister ships out on Diego Garcia, as I was on the Hauge, there was the Baugh, Fisher, Bonneyman, and one more, but they have been moved around and changed since then, maybe some even done away with. I guess someone by the name of "BIG DADDY" off the Baugh got to wonder around the Solomon islands probably on a similar mission that I was on. People seeing this video have no clue, but I know about the MV BAUGH, and who knows, I may even know whom "BIG DADDY" was and possibly shared a story or two in the Merchant Seaman's club with him. What a cool place to lay down graffitti. Here is the video.
A gost village in Salomon island Chagos.wmv - YouTube

Here is a link on someones blog on the MV BAUGH. Shows a picture of one of five sister ships, all configured the same way and built by MERSK in Denmark. MV William Baugh I am stiill somewhat blown away after seeing the video. I know the topic was Ascension island, but this topic put me back to Solomon islands some 25 years back to a very isolated place, where noone lives, only passing yacht people. How very nautical to set foot into a place that airplanes, nor cars can get to unless you use a sea plane or boat. How very isolated and very lonely place to be only to hear the ocean all around you. Prestine palm trees and white sandy beaches where no tourist thrive. Only the bold seafaring yacht people brave enough to sail through the I.O. have the honor to venture that way and leave their mark via graffitti. And of course, those lucky enough to work and be out there for the Maritime prepositioned ships out in Diego Garcia hauling explosives around waiting around the world for a war to kick on.